“What zone are you in?” – Students at Florin Elementary School are asked this anytime they enter the wellness center. The wellness center at Florin Elementary School serves as a sanctuary for students to attend when they are having a tough time expressing their emotions. Students sign into the center with their name and their “zone” to utilize the services. Adriene Butler, an education specialist, created the center to help students with their emotional health. The wellness center exists in a classroom that students can visit anytime during recess or with a wellness center pass from a teacher during class.
The school uses a zone system to help kids articulate how they are feeling without having to explain it verbally. When the wellness center was created each student was taken on a tour of the area and had the four emotional zones explained to them. Now each classroom displays a poster with the four zones for kids to reference back to and use to express themselves. The four zones and their corresponding emotions include:
Blue: Sad, Tired, Sick, Sluggish
Green: Happy, Okay, Focused, Ready to Learn
Yellow: Frustrated, Worried, Silly, Anxious
Red: Angry, Terrified, Yelling, Hitting
The zones provide a common language for the whole school to explain how they are feeling. The goal of the wellness center is to help all students get to the green zone where they are happy and ready to learn. Students may be dealing with any range of experiences or emotions and the wellness center can serve as a place to cope with them. From children dealing with a friend moving away to a loved one struggling with sickness, the wellness center provides a release.
When students visit the wellness center there are multiple activities for them to participate in to help them get back to the green zone. Some of the objects and activities available to students include pinwheels, stuffed animals, books, stress balls, tissues, a couch to relax on and paper and pencils for coloring or writing. All of these things help students calm down and recognize their feelings. When students leave the wellness center, they record their new zone and can also create an action plan for after they leave.
The wellness center also hosts mindfulness classes that include twelve lessons over the course of three to four weeks. All of the second and third grade have been able to attend the classes as well as many students from other grades. The mindfulness classes help teach students about showing gratitude, responding vs reacting, visualization and why it is important to be mindful.
To learn more about Florin Elementary School and other schools within the Elk Grove Unified School District, click here!
About the Elk Grove Unified School District
The Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD) is the fifth-largest school district in California located in southern Sacramento County. EGUSD covers 320 square miles and includes 67 schools: 42 elementary schools, nine middle schools, nine high schools, five alternative education schools, an adult school, one charter school and a virtual academy. Offering a multitude of educational programs, including over 70 career-themed academies and pathways within 15 industry sectors, we prepare our students for college and career by supporting them with the means to be creative problem solvers; self-aware, self-reliant and self-disciplined; technically literate; effective communicators and collaborators; and engaged in the community as individuals with integrity. We integrate rigorous academics with career-based learning and real world workplace experiences and ensure that Every Student is Learning, in Every Classroom, in Every Subject, Every Day to Prepare College, Career and Life Ready Graduates.
For more information about the Elk Grove Unified School District, please visit www.egusd.net and follow us @ElkGroveUnified on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Media Contact
Company Name: Elk Grove Unified School District
Contact Person: Xanthi Pinkerton
Email: Send Email
Phone: Mobile: +1 (916) 261-6219 | Office: (916) 686-7732 | Fax: (916) 686-7787
Address:9510 Elk Grove-Florin Road
City: Elk Grove
State: CA 95624
Country: United States
Website: www.egusd.net